--- description: 'Even if I deserve it, they can't do it' title: Donald Trump TIME Magazine Person of the Year Poll image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a47c4a07ee3aa01/6988725d0b72e369e46e6f3c/trump-rally-alabama.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Person of the Year topic](/tag/person-of-the-year-2/) ## Person of the Year topic Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Donald Trump Challenges TIME to Make Him Person of the Year by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 23, 2015 5:16 PM CUT  Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Birmingham, Ala., on Nov. 21, 2015. Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Birmingham, Ala., on Nov. 21, 2015.Marvin Gentry—Reuters by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 23, 2015 5:16 PM CUT [_Cast your vote here._](http://time.com/4108617/person-of-the-year-poll-2015/ "undefined") With eleven days left to go before TIME’s 2015 [Person of the Year poll](http://time.com/4110428/person-of-the-year-readers-poll-results-2015/ "undefined") come to a close, Donald Trump is currently trailing Bernie Sanders and nine other figures in the annual reader poll but that hasn’t stopped the Republican presidential candidate from speculating that he will receive the recognition in December. “We have somebody from TIME magazine here,” the billionaire real estate mogul told a crowd of supporters in Birmingham, Alabama Saturday. “You know I was on the cover recently. Now they’re here again, so I assume they’re considering me for man of the year. I say there’s no way they give it to me. They can’t. Because, mentally, they can’t. They just can’t. They can’t do it. Even if I deserve it, they can’t do it.” Trump also trails Pope Francis and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama, as well as entertainers like Adele (2%) and Jennifer Lawrence (1.7%) in the Person of the Year poll. Trump currently leads the Republican presidential field in national polling as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the key early voting states. TIME’s editors will choose the Person of the Year, the person TIME believes most influenced the news this year for better or worse, but that doesn’t mean readers shouldn’t have their say. [Cast your vote here.](http://time.com/4108617/person-of-the-year-poll-2015/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4124277/donald-trump-person-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4124277/donald-trump-person-of-the-year/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Challenges TIME to Make Him Person of the Year","datePublished":"2015-11-23T17:16:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:50:58.353Z","description":"'Even if I deserve it, they can't do it'","url":"https://time.com/4124277/donald-trump-person-of-the-year/","keywords":["Person of the Year topic","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a47c4a07ee3aa01/6988725d0b72e369e46e6f3c/trump-rally-alabama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1a47c4a07ee3aa01/6988725d0b72e369e46e6f3c/trump-rally-alabama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Complex in Birmingham","caption":"U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Complex in Birmingham","creditText":"Marvin Gentry—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/person-of-the-year-2/","name":"Person of the Year topic"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4124277/donald-trump-person-of-the-year/","name":"Donald Trump Challenges TIME to Make Him Person of the Year"}}]}] ```